Need advice on buying a camera

[Valpovcanka]

Hi,

I took a b&w photography class in college a few years ago and am now looking to take it on as a hobby. I am looking for a 35mm SLR camera. I would like to keep it under $300 but will go over that if need be. I would like a camera that I will be able to use for a while not just in my beginning stages. I have seen the Canon EOS Elan and Elan II go for pretty good prices used, does anyone have experience with these? Any other camera recommendations are also welcome. Thank you!

 

[skieur]

Minolta was involved with Leica for a time in which Leica was making a large part of some Minolta cameras and Minolta was making a large part of some Leica cameras.

Some used Minolta film cameras are therefore an extremely good buy.

skieur

 

[usayit]

Yes... I have the Elan IIe as my first Canon EOS camera.

The dual dial/dual lever design was a very good design and layout. All settings can be easily seen by a glance of the top of the camera or changed by a turn of a dial or switch. Built pretty well although no where close to the build quality of its more expensive brothers. Heavily used cameras will start to show wear that makes its way through the rubberized grip. One thing I liked about the Elan II is the red/infrared focus assist light. It allowed for low-light focusing assist without that blinding light projected by later models. Mine has held up fine through some heavy use and still is in good operating condition since I purchased it back in 97.

Mine is the "e" version which means it had eye-control on its three focus points. Many people didn't like the function but mine worked pretty darn well. You have to configured for your eyes which is why some people had trouble with it (they didn't go through the configuration). I wouldn't pay too much extra for the "e" version.

Mine also had the battery grip which was very nice to have. I shoot a lot of portrait an the extra grip and shutter button was extremely nice to have. The grip also allows you to use regular AA batteries in case your camera battery dies while out on vacation with no radio shack nearby.

The next and last version is the Elan 7. Updates body design and controls (more inline with the rest of the EOS film camera line). It has more focus points and maintains the eye control function in the "e" version. My big beef was that it lost the infrared/red low-light focus light and was replaced by a stupid bright WHITE light that would turn on when attempting to focus in low light.

 

[usayit]

Minolta was involved with Leica for a time in which Leica was making a large part of some Minolta cameras and Minolta was making a large part of some Leica cameras.

Some used Minolta film cameras are therefore an extremely good buy.

skieur

I believe you were refering to the Leica R4 which was a minolta design. Still expensive (as with most leica) and not in the budget. Also, I gather that the original poster wanted AF since they are looking at the Elan.

 

[Don Simon]

Forget $300. You could probably get a decent film SLR for $30. Glass is another matter; the lenses are still expensive whatever system you choose, but you can get a great Canon, Nikon, Pentax or Minolta autofocus SLR, with lenses that will be compatible with digital SLRs if you ever decide to go that way, well within your budget.